DOJ Sues UCLA Over ‘Deliberate Indifference’ to Campus Antisemitism
Federal lawsuit seeks repayment of UCLA grant funds, alleging the university violated civil rights law by failing to protect Jewish students from assault, harassment and campus exclusion.
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The U.S. Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit against the Regents of the University of California on May 26, 2026, alleging that UCLA was deliberately indifferent to severe harassment and discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students following the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks.
The complaint seeks repayment of federal grant funds awarded during the alleged period of noncompliance, a demand that could put a substantial share of UCLA’s federal grant funding at issue.
According to the DOJ’s 53-page complaint, UCLA administrators knew Jewish and Israeli students risked physical assault when attempting to go to class or the library, yet the university allegedly took “no serious action whatsoever” until May 2, conduct the DOJ says violated Title VI. The lawsuit is the DOJ’s second antisemitism-related case this year involving UCLA; a February case targeted alleged discrimination against Jewish and Israeli employees.
The Encampment: Physical Barriers and Violence
On April 25, 2024, pro-Palestinian demonstrators established an encampment in Royce Quad, one of UCLA’s busiest campus areas, that the DOJ alleges obstructed access to Royce Hall, Powell Library and other campus facilities. UCLA later declared the encampment illegal.
According to the DOJ complaint, occupiers fortified the encampment with plywood barriers and metal bicycle racks, then formed “human phalanxes” to physically prevent Jewish and Israeli students from entering academic buildings.
The complaint alleges that one Jewish student was knocked unconscious and taken to the hospital with an open head wound, and that other Jewish and Israeli students reported being slapped, kicked, beaten with sticks, and pepper-sprayed.
UCLA’s official response to students who needed campus access was to simply “avoid the area if they wish,” according to the complaint. The university did not clear the encampment until May 2, roughly a week after it was established, when police intervened and arrested 210 people.
‘Over One Hundred Complaints’ Routinely Ignored
The DOJ alleges that UCLA’s Office of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion received over one hundred complaints about antisemitism and anti-Israeli hostility but “routinely ignored these complaints.” The pattern of discrimination began immediately after October 7, when some UCLA students and faculty openly celebrated the Hamas terrorist attack.
According to the complaint, on October 9, 2023, just two days after the massacre, the UCLA Undergraduate Student Association Council Cultural Affairs Commissioner issued an official statement reading: “Thus, we honor the Palestinians on the frontlines taking their land and sovereignty back! From the River to The Sea, Palestine Will Be Free.”
The hostile environment intensified throughout the fall. On November 8, 2023, during a UCLA Divest and SJP rally inside Bunche Hall, the complaint says marchers beat a piñata of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while at least one demonstrator chanted “beat the f***king Jew.”
UCLA’s Own Task Force: Leadership ‘Allowed’ Denial of Campus Access
UCLA’s own Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias later concluded that university leaders allowed the encampment, and the related denial of campus access, to continue even after protesters blocked Jews and others from freely reaching classrooms and campus facilities.
The complaint, citing UCLA’s task force report, says university leadership relied on a “de-escalation strategy” while demonstrators were allegedly armed with items including tasers, lumber and a sword.
The report documented Nazi swastikas carved into trees, graffiti reading “die you fucking Jew” and “FUCK ALL Jews,” and a Jewish star drawn on the ground with the words “STEP HERE” written on it.
A federal judge previously ruled in August 2024 that UCLA’s non-response to the harassment was “unimaginable” and “abhorrent,” finding the university likely violated the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause by excluding Jews from campus buildings and resources.
The Federal Demands
The complaint seeks restitution of federal grant payments made during the alleged period of noncompliance and asks the court to relieve the government of further payments under existing grants, a demand that could put major federal funding at issue.
The lawsuit also demands sweeping policy changes, including requirements that UCLA impose “timely and meaningful disciplinary action” on students or employees who discriminate against Jewish students, work with police to arrest protesters illegally blocking campus access, and promptly investigate all antisemitism complaints.
Additionally, federal officials want a court-appointed monitor to oversee UCLA’s compliance, with authority to audit the university and recommend corrective actions.
“Universities that violate our nation’s civil rights laws by repeatedly failing to shield Jewish students from antisemitism will be held accountable,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California.